Hmm...dis one??

Wedding Dresses and Bridesmaid Dresses  | Product Gallery

Cap sleeves, empire waist, beaded details...a few of my favorite things. :)

A few decorations...

The best part about having a full year to plan a Winter wedding is I get to shop ALL the Holiday sales! We snatched up bunches of bows, gold floral accents, white Christmas lights, wreaths...all for 75% - 90% off the regular prices! We've purchased over a thousand $$$ worth of decorations thus far...for a fraction of that!

I'm curious to see how luxurious we can make the wedding & reception feel...while staying on a college student budget. :) Frugal bride!!

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$35 wreath...I have two of these beauties...paid $3.50 each!
Thought they'd look lovely on the doors to the lodge...

Up close sparkly details :)

I have several of these beautiful poinsettia bunches in gold & white... only a few cents each!

These are actually all part of a gorgeous poinsettia garland...I bought ten at $1/each...
They WERE $10/each originally.
SO instead of spending $100...I spent...$10. :)

Lots and lots of wired bows...large and small...perfect accents for ANYTHING you can imagine....
Chairs...floral arrangements...garlands...

AND then yours truly thought perhaps garlands could be the latest craze in neck scarves...
No?? *sigh* But it feels SO festive! ;)

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Now...only a few weeks until VALENTINE'S DAY clearance sales...muahahaaa!!!

At the request of my bridesmaids...

...there will be no "poop chocolate" colored dresses... SO...

Here is the top choice thus far in BURGUNDY... are we all happy? ;)

The top 12 finalists...

A Sunday afternoon spent browsing through potential bridesmaid dresses has yielded this crop of beauties... now the decision making process begins!!

The wedding is starting to take on a classic elegance theme, more than romantic formal.

Of course, these are just dress design ideas. The colors aren't necessarily part of the wedding color palette. Most likely, however, I will have the bridesmaids dresses either burgundy or chocolate, with cream or champagne/gold accents.

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Here is dress #1... very classy, with a feminine off-the-shoulder look...I also love the way the skirt has an overlayed/wrap-around look...

Dress #2...reminiscent of Regency design (think Jane Austen) with a lovely empire waist and soft puffed sleeves...

Dress #3...I like the way it gathers up under the bust...

Dress #4...simple, feminine...

Dress #5...perhaps bordering on too formal, but lovely nonetheless...

Dress #6...strapless...loving the bow tied at the waist...

Dress #7... classic...

Dress #8...a wee bit flirty...love the flowing skirt...

Dress #9...one of my favorites...looks like it belongs on a queen. :)

Dress #10...if you removed the bow, THEN I'd be head over heels for this one...

Dress #11...similar to 2 and 4...

And finally, dress #12...the Maid of Honor's favorite thus far...

So help me out here! Leave a comment and chime in on which dress is YOUR favorite! :)

A New Year's 'YES!!!'

The New Year was welcomed in with many happy and joyous smiles here -- just a wee bit past midnight on January 1st, my beloved best friend got on bended knee and asked the question I thought I'd never hear. With fireworks sounding off in the background, I accepted his proposal and he slipped a stunningly beautiful ring on my finger......... picturesque, no??

Well, here are the 'behind the scenes' details: We were at my apartment doing a frozen pizza and movie night... the roads were covered with a horrid deposit of white fluff (I've had enough snow to last me a long while) and thus plans to eat out had been canceled. Further more, I was totally oblivious to Justin's covert mission for the evening...and so the movie we ended up watching before the clock struck midnight was none other than... 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'.

For some reason, the standard commentary disclaimer that rolls at the start of a film keeps popping into my head... 'Any views or opinions expressed in interviews or commentaries do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the bride-to-be'...as Kate Hudson's portrayal of Andy Anderson's rather psychotic attempts to 'lose her guy' thoroughly disturbed the groom-to-be.

The good news is Justin still proposed after watching two hours of psycho-female-relationship-disasters.....

Ahh... *sigh* Did I happen to mention I'm engaged?? ((my sister tuned that question out two weeks ago))

Well, I am engaged...engaged to be married to the world's most amazing man...my best friend, Justin. And so I decided to blog about my year of betrothal...the ups and downs of planning a wedding...blog in retrospect of the last (nearly) five years of our friendship and falling in love...document and journal every step of the way.

For I only intend to be engaged once...plan a wedding once...because Justin is the love of my life...and yet a lifetime together couldn't begin to be long enough. <3

~Jodi